The days before
by angelofdarkness78
Summary: This is a pre-series fic. Focuses on the lives of the X5s. (Max's Unit) Prequel to 'Whose Love'. Review!
1. Family

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Charles Eglee and James Cameron do. And for some other characters, other fanfiction authors made them up. P.S. I hope you guys don't mind me using them. Shygirl1, I used some of your characters. Hope you don't mind, but if you do let me know and I'll get rid of them.**

**Summary: This is a pre-series fic. It revolves around the lives of the X5s before the escape. I'd tell you the pairings but I think you can figure that out for yourself. If not, read and see.**

**Author's Note: This is one of my first fanfictions. Read and review plz. Help me get better! LOL Also, plz read my other fic, 'Whose Love'.**

**I really need reviews people, but I'm sorry to say all of you guys reviewing anonymously it won't work even though I want reviews from you guys. I tried to change it to accept reviews from anonymous people but it didn't work. sry.**

"**Hey, Maxie!"**

**Max looked up from her book. Her unit were given the afternoon off after their stunning performance at escape and evade. She looked to see who called her name.**

"**Maxie! Come over here," Krit called.**

**She put her book down and walked over to her brother. "What is it Krit?"**

"**This!" He pulled on a string and a bucket over her head tipped over and drenched her with water. He snickered, knowing that being part cat made her hate water.**

**She stood for a second, not making a sound. Then with a growl, she yelled, "Krrrriiiiiiiiiitttttt!" and proceeded to chase after the blur that was her brother.**

**Zack just walked into the recreational room when he saw two blurs past him. He frowned for a moment, then stepped into the room.**

**What he saw didn't surprise him, also it should have. He was used to it, but any normal person should have been shocked to say the least. Then again, Zack wasn't exactly a normal person. He was a transgenic, an X5 actually, and the C.O. of unit 2 at that. He was extremely good looking, and had qualities some people would die for. Blond haired, blue eyed, and a well toned and muscled body for being only 12, Zack would be considered perfect. Not to mention that he had an I.Q. off the charts, could run faster then a speeding bullet, could see and hear very far, among many other extraordinary things. **

**What he saw went like this:**

**His brothers Zane and Wayne were laughing about some joke in one corner. His brothers Michael, Jordan, Bobby and Evan were are wrestling on the floor. His sisters Brin, Jace and Tinga were all quietly sitting down and reading a book. His sisters Jondy and Rena were blurring around the room in a game of tag, crashing into things and breaking them. Tawny and Jack were using this time to catch up on sleep, while Ben and Syl were playing pool. The rest were just lounging about. **

**He furrowed his eyebrows as he noticed two people missing. Krit and Max. He relaxed as he figured out that it had to have been those two running off earlier. As C.O., he had to keep track of all his unit, but he also did it out of love. Zack didn't know the meaning of love, but it seemed to fit what he felt for his brothers and sisters. Except Maxie. There was always something about her, always something different about his special little Maxie. His little baby sister, baby girl. With her big, doe eyes and beautiful, heart stopping smiles, she could get her way out of anything. With her family of course, not the trainers.**

**Zack shuddered. He hated it when the trainers took them away for experiments, punishments or whatnot, but it was always worse when they took Maxie. She was so small, so tiny, but she always took whatever they gave her without complaint like a good soldier. He tried to protect her at all times, take punishments for her – for all of them actually – but sometimes it wasn't enough. They took her away and she always came back shaking, and stayed quiet for a few days. He hated it when she was quiet; Max was usually a cheery person and when she was sad or scared it made him worried. He pushed all his thoughts away as she walked into the room with a sour look on her face and Krit ran off laughing to join Syl and Ben.**

**He walked up to her. "Hey Maxie. Something the matter?"**

"**Naw. Krit's just being a pain. He poured water all over me," she said with a pout.**

**She looked so cute standing there, hand on her hip and extremely pissed off. 'No, bad thoughts. This is my sister Maxie.'**

"**What Maxie. Don't like water?" he said, knowing fully how much she hated it. "It's supposed to be good for you."**

"**Drinking it, ya, not ON you." She scowled. "Oh, just wait and see if I don't get him back." A wicked smile graced her lips. "This is going to be fun."**

**He laughed nervously. Maxie was very creative when it came to pranks, and he was a little worried for Krit. "Whatcha gonna do?"**

"**You'll see," she said sweetly. She opened her mouth to say something else when she heard footsteps.**

**The door swung open and the colonel stepped in. They all hated the colonel. He was a mean, cruel man who treated them very badly.**

**Everyone in the room immediately stood up straight when they saw him, until he said, "at ease soldiers" and they relaxed a bit.**

"**Continue what you're doing, I just need to take 452 for a few experiments."**

**Max looked worriedly at Zack, scared because she had tests very recently and shouldn't have had them again for awhile. **

**Zack was sick inside. He was afraid to let her go, but what could he do? So he flashed her a very quick reassuring smile, but ended it when he caught the colonel staring at them. The colonel didn't say anything, but Zack was sure he saw it. So, feeling slightly better by Zack's smile, Max walked towards the colonel confidently and they left.**

**A/N How was that? Good, bad? Shygirl1, tell me if you don't want me using some of your characters and I'll remove them. Sorry for not asking in the first place, but I don't know how to contact you. Read my other fic, 'Whose Love', because this fic is sort of a prequel to it. REVIEWS PLZ! No flaming. Luv ya guys. LOL P.S. This is MZ**


	2. Hurting

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters**

**Summary: Pre-series fic.**

**A/N Come on people. Get those reviews rolling in.**

**That night Zack couldn't sleep. He could never sleep whenever any of his brothers or sisters were taken away, but this was different. First of all it was Maxie. Second, she had had tests done on her very recently and third, she had not come back yet. **

**It had been 3 days. Three long days. Zack would always stay up at night, waiting for her small figure to come back and climb in her bed. When there was about 2 hours before they had to wake up, he went to sleep for an hour or so. Then he'd go to training and at night the cycle would start all over again. **

**He was starting to drift off when he heard a sound. The door to the barracks slowly opened and a small girl came in, stumbling and walking with her head down. Zack knew immediately who it was.**

"**Maxie? Are you alright? What did they do to you? Come here."**

**Max limped over to Zack's bunk but tripped right before she got there. Luckily Zack caught her but their eyes met and for a second neither of them moved. They just stood staring into each others eyes.**

'**They're so dark,' Zack thought. 'Like an endless tunnel. But beautiful.'**

'**Zack's eyes are so blue,' Max thought. 'How come I never noticed that?' So she voiced her thoughts out loud. "Your eyes look like the sky, Zack."**

**He just smiled at her. 'Funny,' she thought. 'He almost never smiles. He should do it more often.'**

**Zack pulled her onto his bunk and looked her over worriedly. "Max," he said slowly. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you bad?"**

**Although she was shaking, she managed to say, "I'm fine, Zack, really."**

**Zack wasn't stupid. He saw how badly hurt she was. He was infuriated when he saw the cuts on her arms, legs, stomach and just about everywhere else. He touched the side of her face and cupped her cheek. Unconsciously, Max moved her face into the palm of his hand and nuzzled it slightly. "Maxie, really. Don't hide from me. Please." **

**Zack raised her face so she wouldn't be able to avoid his eyes. **

"**It hurts," she whispered. "It hurts, Zack, it hurts real bad. Make the pain go away. Help me, please?"**

**Once more the anger filled Zack. 'How could they do this to her?' he thought. 'I know they don't really care about us but this surgery was really unnecessary. They probably just hurt her because they were bored and needed something to do.' **

"**Lie down," he said. She lay down on his bunk slowly, every movement she made hurting her even more. She put her head on his pillow and watched him as he moved to lie down beside her. He gently wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head. "It's gonna be alright Maxie, you just rest now. Don't worry baby sister, I'll never let them hurt you." **

'**Why do I feel weird calling her sister?' Zack thought, but Max snuggled closer to him and they both fell asleep, content in each other's arms. **

**A/N Awwwwwwwwww! Isn't that sweet. Ya, I know. I'm sappy and a hopeless romantic writer. I just wanted to show how Max made Zack act differently, softer I guess you could say. Anyways, REVIEW!**

**Thanks to:**

**kiwifruit03 – Thanks for your review**

**shygirl1 – Thnx for always reviewing my stories. It's greatly appreciated. I haven't yet figured out how to review other people's stories so I'll just review yours in my author's notes until someone can tell me how. Keep up your great work, I love it:)**

**Review people, let's go! LOL**


	3. Inspection Week

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Some are own by shygirl1, some by other fan fiction writers and most by Charles Eglee and James Cameron.

Timeline - Pre-series

A/N You guys reading this? REVIEW! This is the prequel to 'Whose Love' so read that too plz. Also read 'Reunion' By the way, Fayth3, for some of the parts in this chapter I used some of your ideas from 'Left Behind' I hope you don't mind it's just that there's a part in this chapter that needs to show that Max is one of the best for something that will happen later on. If you do mind, let me know, and I'll remove it, but what I wrote isn't really like yours, just the idea. Anyways, if you do mind, tell me please. Thanks!

The next day Max was feeling incredibly sore, but she stood up straight during roll call and didn't let the pain show in her face. If there was anything the colonel hated, it was weakness. Zack as C.O., was the one numbering them off while the colonel watched.

He walked in front of them, saying their designation in turn. "X5-210" 'Jondy,' he thought. "X5-205" 'Zane' "X5-701" 'Syl' "X5-471" 'Krit' "X5-656" 'Tinga' "X5-734" 'Brin' "X5-766" 'Eva' "X5-493" 'Ben' "X5-417" 'Jack' "X5-823" 'Tawny' "X5-573" 'Michael' "X5-375" 'Bobby' "X5-742" 'Evan' "X5-562" 'Jordan' "X5-120" 'Rena' "X5-369" 'Wayne' "X5-798" 'Jace'

And finally Zack stopped in front of the last one. "X5-452" 'Maxie' he thought. He was worried about her. He knew she was still in a lot of pain. He hadn't made her go back to her own bed last night. Instead, he had carried her there in the morning right before the guard came to wake them up. He was worried because when he had carried her back to her bed, she had still been sound asleep, and she never slept this long. 'They did a lot of experiments on her,' he reasoned. Zack snapped out of his thoughts and asked her with his eyes if she was alright. They always had a special connection where they could understand each other with just a look or a nod. She smiled slightly to reassure him. 'I'm fine' her eyes said.

Zack smiled back quickly at her but stopped when he saw the colonel looking at them. So he stood in line with the rest of them.

Colonel Lydecker stepped forward, still looking deep in thought. "Well, soldiers, this is inspection week. There will be a series of events: obstacle course, sparring, recon and strategy, weaponry recognition, target range, survival mission, and escape and evade. I want to see your best, soldiers. Now, go eat a good breakfast because this will be a very tiring day. Dismissed."

They separated in two lines of nine and marched to the mess hall. However, once they sat down, they started chattering about what would happen later on.

"I hope I do well today," Jace said. "I wasn't so good at sparring last time. I left my right side open too much."

"I wish we could fake it," Tawny said. "I don't want to hurt anybody but they'd notice if I was faking it."

Jack spoke up. "I can't wait 'till target practice. I think I got a whole lot better than last time." He looked down. "I just hope I won't get a seizure and mess things up."

Everyone at the table looked around worriedly. Jack's seizures were getting worse and worse and they were afraid their little brother would get taken away.

"It'll be okay, Jack," Tawny said. Out of their family, Tawny and Ben were the most protective of their little brother. For some reason, Jack was weaker than the rest of them, never up to par with everything they could do.

They continued talking amongst themselves but Zack was the only one who noticed that Max wasn't sharing her opinion with them.

"Maxie? What's wrong?" he asked her.

She looked up. "It's nothing. It's just…" She sighed. "I'm afraid that I won't do well, Zack and they'll take me away."

Zack knew why she was worried. She just came out of surgery and even though she healed fast, she still would need time to recover. She might not do as well. He also knew that if you did really bad, sometimes they took you away for a couple of days as punishment. The colonel expected all of them to do very well.

"Don't worry Maxie. They won't take you away. I won't let them. Okay?"

She smiled up at him. "I know."

Trainer McGee sat at the head of the table for recon and strategy. "Alright, soldiers. Now, I want to know what your ideas are for infiltrating a hotel that doubles as a secret base and has high security, dogs, alarms basically everywhere, security guards, and motion sensors. The objective is to get a microchip hidden in a vault in this base. You are already given the mission specs in the pamphlet in front of you. What do you do?

Jace spoke up. "Sir?"

"Yes, 798? What do you think?"

"Well, sir, I think it would be good to infiltrate the base at night, bring something to keep the dogs occupied, like meat or something, and to plan out an escape route should we be detected. We could get the microchip during the guards' rotations."

"That's a good idea, 798. Anyone else?"

Max raised her hand. "Sir?"

"Yes, 452?"

"I've found a slight flaw in 798's plan"

The trainer raised his eyebrows. "Oh? Explain, 452."

Zack looked at her. 'What is she saying?' he thought.

"Well sir, I think we should have a full day's recon first before we do anything."

The trainer snickered. "452, do you not see the mission specs in front of you?"

"I do Sir," she replied. "But a good commander should never rely on intel from any source that is not his or her own. Forgive me Sir, but maybe the there is a mistake in the mission specs which could lead to our discovery."

The trainer blinked. "You're right 452. A good commander never does that. But say that this information is reliable. What would you do?"

Max continued. "I still would want to take a full day's recon Sir. At hotels there are things like parties and such, which could change some of the information. The guards' rotations could change and then we might be discovered Sir. I agree with 798 about coming in at night though because it would provide us the cover we would need.

The trainer and all the others were impressed. "I must say, 452, you are very good at thinking outside the box." A bell rang. "On to your next class soldiers."

While walking to their next class, Zack caught up to her. "Wow, Maxie that was great. You even stumped me!"

Max laughed. Zack loved to hear her laugh, she didn't do it often enough. "It was nothing Zack." She laughed again when all the others joined them and praised their baby sister.

Next up was the target range. Zack was the best at that, with Max sometimes doing better than him. They both stunned Trainer Garth when they both hit the target every time dead on.

Brin, Max, Zack and Jondy were the best at sparring. Max, though injured, still managed to finish off all her opponents rather quickly.

It was as they were walking to the weapons class that Zack overheard something he couldn't quite understand.

"How is 452 doing in her classes?" a voice said.

Zack recognized it as the Colonel's. 'Why would he single Maxie out?' he asked himself.

"Very well," another voice said. "The experiments we were doing on her didn't seem to slow her down very much. She's doing better than most even though she's injured."

"Could she be what we're looking for?" the Colonel asked.

'What is he looking for?' Zack wondered.

"I'm not sure," the voice said. "She's doing exceptionally well and recovering quickly but it could be that she's just a good soldier. Her and 599 are the top of the X5 series."

"The perfect soldier split in two. Her and 599. Whatever one lacks the other makes up for." The Colonel laughed. "I think that 599's got a little soft spot for her as well. This morning I caught him smiling at her during roll call."

Zack flushed even though he was hiding and they couldn't see him.

"Is that so?" the voice said. "Hmm. Interesting. Am I wrong or does he seem a little overprotective of her whenever you come to pick her up for experiments?"

"No, I think you're right," the Colonel said.

"Let's just hope this kid doesn't turn on you, Deck. They all seem to have a lot of free will."

"Yes, well. Back on task. Did you do a DNA workup of 452?"

"Yes, Colonel. She has nothing unusual about her."

"That doesn't mean it won't happen when she's older. Sandman may have made it so that we wouldn't be able to detect The One until he or she was older and something inside of them changes."

"Maybe. Until then, we'll keep searching for The One."

"Good. Goodbye."

"Bye Deck."

Zack continued his way to class. 'What do they want with Maxie?' He thought hard. 'Who's The One? Oh well, the Colonel's not going to lay a finger on my Maxie.'

"I'm so tired," Krit complained as they made their way to their barracks.

"Tired?" Jondy said. "At least you don't have shark DNA that keeps you up all night. Besides, you're always snoring right after lights out."

"I don't snore!" Krit exclaimed.

Jondy snorted. "Sure you don't."

"Cut it out guys and go to sleep," Zack commanded.

They were all exhausted. It had been a rough day. Tomorrow they had the survival mission and nobody was looking forward to that. The day after that was escape and evade and after that it was the obstacle course then they were done.

He looked around. "Guys, where Maxie?"

Syl bit her lip. "I dunno. I didn't see her come in to take a shower so I just assumed she was walking slowly."

Rena spoke up and her voice was choked up from trying not to cry. "It's my fault."

The rest of her family stopped what they were doing and walked over to her.

"What is Rena?" Zack asked, trying not to sound impatient.

"Maxie. She's being whipped," she said quietly.

"What!" Zack yelled, furious. "Why?"

"When we were leaving class I tripped and knocked the trainer down accidentally. He moved to hit me but Maxie didn't let him and grabbed his wrist. So he let me go and whipped her instead."

"No," Zack whispered. 'She can't endure this much pain. She's still recovering.' There was a hollow feeling in his heart. Every time she got hurt he felt like it was his fault, like he should have done something to prevent it. He was about to leave to find her, consequences be damned, when she walked in.

They were all silent, until Rena burst into tears and ran up and hugged her. "I'm so sorry baby sister. It's all my fault. If I wasn't such a klutz…"

Max sucked in a breath sharply when Rena hugged her. It hurt because she was squeezing too much. "Rena," she said gently. Rena realized what she was doing and let go. "I'm so sorry," she said.

Max tried to smile at her but it hurt. "It's okay Rena. I'm fine."

They stopped talking when they heard the guards coming. "Everybody, get in bed," Zack ordered.

They all ran to their bunks and Zack hurriedly helped Max into her own, which was across from his since she was second in command. Then he jumped in bed and slid under his covers. A guard popped his head in and Max was barely able to stifle a moan. Zack heard it though and he cringed, once more remembering that it was his fault. They left and Zack motioned for them to be quiet and to go to sleep. They had a big day tomorrow. They did so knowing that their baby sister was in good hands.

Zack wet a cloth and went over to Max's bunk. "Oh, Maxie. They hurt you bad?"

Max was in so much pain that all she could do was moan. He gently washed away all the blood with the cloth, getting angrier every time he saw another lash on her back. "How many times did he whip you Maxie?"

She muttered something. "20 times."

'20 times. 20 times. 20 times.' This kept repeating over and over in his head as he tried to process this information. '20 times! Are they crazy! I'm going to kill him, trainer or not.' After her cuts were cleaned, Zack washed the cloth and returned it. "How are ya feeling Maxie?"

Hot tears sprung to her eyes. "It hurts," she moaned. She broke down in sobs, trying to be a good soldier and not cry but she couldn't stop. "My back's on fire."

All around the room her brothers and sisters were pained to hear her cry. Their baby sister was strong, but it hurt to hear her in pain. It seemed she was always the one getting hurt when she had done nothing wrong. Rena tried not to cry because she felt guilty for what happened.

Zack's heart was hurting. It seemed every time she was hurting, so was he although he didn't understand it. He lay down beside her and gently rubbed her back, willing her to go to sleep so she could get better. He pulled her small body against his, and she leaned into him. "Sleep," he whispered. She closed her eyes and shut down her mind so she could get some rest, comforted in the arms of who held her.

Like it? Yes? No? Tell me. REVIEW! LOL

Thanks to-

shygirl1 – Your reviews are always appreciated. Love 'All of Us' Keep up the great work

ZombieGurl98 – Thanks for reviewing all my stories. Hope ya like!


	4. Survival Mission part a

Disclaimer: Don't own them

A/N REVIEW PLZ! Read the sequel 'Whose Love'

* * *

Today was the day of the survival mission. They were each given 1 canteen of water, 1 gun, 1 paintball gun, and 3 knives. They were split into two groups. Zack the leader of Alpha Team, with Max as second-in-command, and Jondy, Krit, Syl, Zane, Tinga, Ben, and Jack. Bobby was the leader of Beta Team, with Michael as second-in-command, and Jace, Eva, Evan, Jordan, Rena, Wayne and Tawny. Each team was led to a different part of the forest. On Lydecker's flare, they set off into the woods. The objective was to return the next day with no one hit by the paintball gun. If the other team is spotted in the woods, they were ordered to fire the paintball gun at them. Hopefully, they wouldn't run into each other.

Alpha Team set off quickly, deep into the woods, very aware of their surroundings. They hunted around for a place to rest overnight where the other team wouldn't find them. Ben and Zane ran ahead, loving the woods. Ben loved the lush, green nature while Zane just loved the animals. It was funny how he attracted them, all the little creatures in the woods coming out when he was near. This happened now, little squirrels peering curiously at the group, probably wondering, 'What are a bunch of kids doing in our woods?'

Jack lagged behind, still feeling a little weak from the seizure he had had last night. He was lucky, it was only a mild one and not bad enough that he wouldn't be able to go on the survival mission.

Max noticed her brother walking slower than the rest. She hung back, motioning to Zack that she was going to walk with Jack for awhile. He nodded and she walked towards the back of the pack.

"How you holding up, bro?" she asked.

Jack smiled at her. Even though she was the youngest, she always seemed to be the strongest, in every way, both emotionally and physically. She had been experimented on only a few days before and had been whipped too, but she picked herself up and kept her head held high even though she was hurting. Max got seizures too, sometimes, and she didn't let them hold her back, so his baby sister was his inspiration to keep going when he felt like giving up.

"I'm fine so far, Maxie. How's your back?"

Her eyes darkened at the memory of what the trainer had done. Then they lightened up and she forced a smile. "Peachy."

Jack laughed, so hard in fact that the rest of the team looked at them in surprise. Jack didn't laugh often and they loved to hear him do so. They turned surprised eyes on Max, who shrugged as if to say, 'I didn't do anything.' Zack tried to keep a smile from spreading on his face. It figured that it would be Max who did the undoable.

"Come on, guys, keep going," he said, so they trudged on.

* * *

"I'm bo-ored," Jordan said for the hundredth time.

"You're always bored," Jace said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but now I'm really bored," he said.

Jace couldn't help rolling her eyes again.

"You keep doing that and your eyes'll get stuck that way," said Wayne, chuckling.

"Well, at least my brain's still intact," Jace retorted. "Unlike yours."

"Ouch," Rena said. "Diss."

Bobby huffed. "Guys, let's keep going."

All of them saluted mockingly and shouted simultaneously, "Yes, Sir!"

Bobby rolled his eyes. "I'm stuck with a bunch of two-year-olds."

"Great," Wayne said. "Now you're doing the whole eye-rolling thing too."

"We are not two," Tawny said. He thought for a moment. "Six at least."

That made everyone groan as they continued on.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, I know, short, but my parents have been bugging me to death about doing my homework so I gots to go. Hoped you liked. REVIEW!

Thanks to –

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing.

willow98002 – Thanks for reviewing.


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